Pennsylvania SB 201: An Act amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, further providing for organization.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 133
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 201
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY BAKER, LAUGHLIN, BROOKS, BARTOLOTTA, ROTHMAN,
LANGERHOLC, ROBINSON, BROWN, PENNYCUICK, CULVER, PHILLIPS-
HILL, YAW, STEFANO AND MARTIN, JANUARY 29, 2025
REFERRED TO VETERANS AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS,
JANUARY 29, 2025
AN ACT
Amending Title 35 (Health and Safety) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in Pennsylvania Emergency Management
Agency, further providing for organization.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 7312(a) and (e) of Title 35 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
§ 7312. Organization.
This agency shall consist of and be organized substantially
as follows:
(a) Council.--Primary responsibility for overall policy and
direction of a Statewide civil defense and disaster program and
response capability of the type hereinafter prescribed shall be
vested in a body legally known as the Pennsylvania Emergency
Management Council, which shall be composed of: the Governor,
Lieutenant Governor, Adjutant General, Secretary of Health,
Attorney General, General Counsel, Secretary of [Community
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Affairs] Community and Economic Development, Secretary of
Environmental Protection, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary
of Agriculture, Secretary of [Public Welfare] Human Services,
Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, Chairman of the
Public Utility Commission, State Fire Commissioner, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, President pro tempore of the
Senate, Minority Leader of the Senate and Minority Leader of the
House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House of
Representatives, President pro tempore of the Senate, Minority
Leader of the Senate and Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives may authorize a member of their respective
Houses of the General Assembly to serve in their stead. The
Governor may authorize up to two representatives of business and
industry, up to two representatives of labor, up to two public
members at large and one representative respectively of the
Pennsylvania State Association of County Commissioners, the
Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners, the
Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, the
Pennsylvania League of Cities and the Pennsylvania State
Association of Boroughs to be nonvoting members of the council.
The Governor may designate a member to serve as chairman. Five
members shall constitute a quorum.
* * *
(e) State director.--To supervise the work and activities
comprising the State Civil Defense and Disaster Program, the
Governor shall appoint, subject to the consent of a majority of
the members elected to the Senate, an individual to act, on a
full-time basis, as director of the agency. The director shall
perform all such fiscal, planning, administrative, operational
and other duties as may be assigned to him by the council and
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shall act as the chairman's principal assistant in civil defense
and disaster matters. The director or the director's designee is
also the State coordinating officer responsible to coordinate
and supervise the Commonwealth and local disaster response
effort following a presidential declaration of an emergency or a
major disaster.
* * *
Section 2. The amendment of 35 Pa.C.S. § 7312(e) shall apply
to directors of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency who
are appointed after the effective date of this section.
Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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